A Little Rock judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU in their case against the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (or DFA) regarding its emergency gender marker restriction. The court’s decision was based on administrative grounds, explaining the DFA failed to provide enough evidence to signify the previous rule caused "imminent peril" to Arkansans. The judge also discredited the DFA’s lack of proper notice and solicitation of public comment beforehand.
This decision will require the DFA to temporarily revert back to its previous policy of allowing transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Arkansans to self-select their gender marker without need for documentation. Wednesday’s injunction relief will only be effective until the proposed rule is passed formally through appropriate procedure, which is expected to happen at the end of June.
This morning, the DFA held a public hearing for the proposed permanent rule change regarding gender on licenses and IDs in Little Rock. All interested parties may continue to express their views on the proposed rule by submitting written comments to the Department of Finance and Administration via P.O. box (P.O. Box 1272, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203) or by emailing public.comment@dfa.arkansas.gov.
Arkansas PBS' live stream of this morning's public hearing in Little Rock is available here.
